A Good Thing
by EveLGW
Summary: Just a conversation and some female bonding. CatherineWarrick and GrissomSara (both implied).


Title: A Good Thing

Pairing: Catherine/Warrick and Sara/Grissom (both implied)

Summary: Just a conversation and some female bonding.

Rating: PG for one bad word.

Spoilers: Up to the end of season 4 I guess, but except for Eddie nothing specific.

A/N: Honestly don't know where this came from. Might be completely OOC, so I'd like to apologize in advance.

**A Good Thing**

Even a city like Las Vegas had its slow nights, and so Catherine and Sara ended up with the exciting task of processing a robbery at a local grocery store. The owner was at the hospital with a flesh wound, and the two CSIs had spent the last couple of hours with lifting what must have been a gazillion fingerprints from the counter and afterwards several more with logging in the gathered evidence. CODIS and Brass did the rest, and now, at the end of the shift and beginning of the day with nothing left but paperwork, the only real secret was where Catherine had disappeared to – and when Sara walked past the restroom, heard somebody flush the toilet and then turn the faucet on and off again, she believed she had found the answer to this mystery too.

But Catherine didn't emerge from the room even after several minutes had passed, and so Sara went inside to see if she'd been mistaken. Walking through the door and closing it behind her, she saw her standing in front of the mirrors, hands braced against the sink. Her hair obscured her face and so Sara couldn't see her expression, but it looked like as if she was trying to get her breathing under control. Instinctively she took a step forward, but then hesitated, not quite sure how to proceed.

"Uhm, Catherine?"

"Yes."

"Is everything all right?"

"No."

Catherine lifted her head and their eyes, bloodshot and tired blue and worried brown ones, met in the mirror.

"Ask already," she said defiantly, as if daring her to even imply what was obvious.

Without missing a beat Sara replied, "Would you like to have a piece of gum?"

For a moment they just stared at each other, then Catherine suddenly began to chuckle and part of the tension between them dispersed.

"That would be great, thank you," she said when she turned around and accepted the small foil wrapped package from her colleague's hand.

"Listen, I know it's none of my business," Sara began, holding Catherine's gaze, "but if there's anything I can do –"

"Just… don't tell anyone, ok?"

Sara's expression changed and Catherine could see that she was more than just slightly taken aback. She took a deep breath and started, "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't want to imply that… I mean know you wouldn't anyway, but so far nobody knows and I'd rather keep it that way for now."

Leaning against the sink behind her, Catherine waited for the next question and surely it came just a few moment later.

"Not even he?"

"We've been together for only a couple of months," Catherine explained, saw her nod and realised that she was simply confirming what Sara already knew, "and I'm not sure how he'd react. Hell, I'm not even sure about my own reaction."

Sara watched her while she spoke and the way the other woman stood there, one arm unconsciously wrapped protectively around her middle, gave her a pretty good indication about her feelings even though she hadn't sorted them out herself yet.

"It might be presumptuous of me, but I'm pretty sure he will be thrilled." Sara ventured and Catherine knew by the tone of her voice that she wasn't just trying to reassure her – Sara believed what she was saying. Her honesty felt good and without as much as a second thought Catherine continued, "It would change everything. He wouldn't be satisfied with just being a weekend dad, he would want the whole deal."

"And you don't?" Now it was Sara's turn to challenge her. But there was no menace in her voice, just assurance and Catherine knew that she was right.

"It would change everything, I agree. But sometimes things change for the better."

It suddenly occurred to Catherine how bizarre this whole situation was – that it was Sara of all people who was giving her advice for a relationship – but looking at her she realised that it didn't matter. This woman in front of her had more than her share of bad experiences too and if they dug a bit deeper and compared notes they would probably find out that they had even more in common than "just" having been in love with a co-worker for years. The fact that Sara was still here in Vegas and that she herself took the chance with Warrick despite having acquired her own second and third degree burns from her marriage with Eddie told her that they were either completely crazy or hopelessly optimistic. And that maybe the difference between those two wasn't as big as one would assume.

Whatever it was, Catherine felt relieved to be finally able to tell somebody and was glad and grateful that it was Sara who had found her and not one of Ecklie's people who were slowly filling the hallways on the other side of the restroom door. They were lucky that nobody had walked in on them yet. Sara seemed to be aware of that too, because when the noise level began to rise once again she asked, "Breakfast?" Still feeling slightly nauseated Catherine scrunched up her nose and Sara added, "Or an ear to listen?" Catherine smiled and pushed herself away from the sink.

"I'm buying."

Sara fell into step next to her as they walked out of the restroom and down the hallway.

When they arrived at the entrance they met Nick and Warrick who were just coming in with brown paper bags in hands. After an initial greeting, Nick continued his journey down to the DNA lab in search for Greg while Warrick stayed behind, eyeing Catherine with barely masked worry in his gaze.

"You ok?" he asked, fighting the urge to draw her into a hug.

"I'll, uhm,…" Sara said and pointed into the general direction of the parking lot outside the building.

"Be right there," Catherine replied when Sara went ahead to wait outside.

Warrick looked after her retreating form, frowning slightly. What had just happened had done nothing to ease the feeling that something was up, on the contrary. However, his attention was brought back to the blond woman in front of him when she took a step forward and he suddenly felt her hand on his arm.

"Later?" she asked, acknowledging that this wasn't the time but that she would like to talk to him after he was finished with whatever was in those brown bags. He watched her silently, still worried about the tiredness that was evident in her features - but standing closer to her than before he also noticed an underlying sense of excitement in her voice. Something was definitely up, he decided, and judging from the look she had in her eyes it seemed to be a good thing.

"Later," he agreed, settling with gently squeezing her hand when she smiled at him and finally turned around to follow Sara outside.


End file.
